“Give You the Memorable Feeling”

The day began with a ride to Hezuo, one of the larger towns in the region, and home to a monumental Tibetan Buddhist temple. It was a dirty great big climb, made worthwhile by the glimpse of snowcapped mountains as we capped the pass, framed by the colourful prayer flags that somebody had strung across the road. We entered Huzuo, to see the army practising some sort of martial art featuring the whirling and twirling of big batons (suggestions?!), and to spot an enormous black pig walloping down the hillside (noteworthy because it’s the first time I’d seen a pig all trip). A little further down the road, we came across a huge Buddhist temple, destroyed in cultural revolution and rebuilt in 1988, the educational highpoint of the day, but equally importantly an opportunity to get a photo of Nick doing drive-by prayer wheels. A quick stop to stock up on biscuits saw us surrounded by a band of inquisitive Tibetans, including a saffron-clad monk, but not to be deterred, we pressed on to the next noodle joint, where I wolfed down some lamb noodles, and Nico bought some roasted chestnuts from a street vendor, a perfect autumnal treat! Dessert was a packet of Chinese sweets, which I first came across aged sixteen in a Chinese supermarket in Birmingham, where the packet claimed to be ‘haw berry’. I’m still none the wiser as to what a haw berry is, but this packet claimed to ‘give the memorable feeling’, and that is exactly what it did. The afternoon’s cycling left us in a Tibetan village, where we took advantage of sun and a water pipe to have a shower, watched by a group of gawping Tibetans; I figured that if privacy didn’t bother them, then it didn’t bother me either, and striped off completely, which prompted a lot of laughter. Presumably they thought I have small penis. We fled down the valley, cleaned our bikes, entertained some of the village kids, and made camp.